This invention relates to automotive vehicles having a slideable side door and more particularly to a drive mechanism for a power operated slideable side door.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,365 granted to Howard W. Kuhlman and Jeffrey K. Joyner May 31, 1994 discloses a passenger van that has a slidable side door. The door is supported on and slideable in three tracks. A module for power operation of the door is mounted inside the van adjacent to the center track that supports and guides the rear of the door. The module includes a front cable and a rear cable. The front cable is attached to a front cable drive pulley, then extends through a front cable roller guide assembly and is then attached to a hinge and roller assembly. The rear cable is attached to a rear cable drive pulley then extends through a rear cable roller guide, assembly, and is then attached to the hinge and roller assembly. The front and rear cable drive pulleys are driven by an electric motor via an electromagnetic clutch to open and close the sliding door. The electromagnetic clutch permits manual opening and closing of the side door when it is disengaged, thus avoiding the need to backdrive the electric motor. However, the cables and pulleys must be backdriven during manual operation.
This invention provides a drive mechanism for power operation of a slideable side door of an automotive vehicle, such as a passenger van. The drive mechanism has an electric motor driven flexible drive member that travels in a closed loop, a portion of which is through a track that supports and guides a hinge and roller assembly that is attached to the door. The hinge and roller assembly has a normally disengaged clutch that is actuated to clamp the hinge and roller assembly to the flexible drive member for power operation of the door. Manual operation requires little effort because the clutch is normally disengaged so that neither the flexible drive member nor the pulleys nor the electric motor need be back driven.